El Espinazo Del Diablo
Guillermo del Toro
In a Spain torn apart by civil war, the orphanage of Santa Lucia is an institution ruled by poverty and despair. Latest arrival Carlos, a 12-year-old orphan, has to cope with the hostility of his friends and of Jacinto, the handyman. He would also make the acquaintance of Santi, a young boy who had disappeared under mysterious circumstances...
With : Marisa Paredes, Eduardo Noriega, Federico Luppi, Irene Visedo
Screenplay : Guillermo Del Toro, Antonio Trashorras, David Muñoz
Image : Guillermo Navarro
Sound : Miguel Rejas
Editing : Luis de la Madrid
Decors : Cesar Maccaron
Music : Javier Navarrete
Screenplay : Guillermo Del Toro, Antonio Trashorras, David Muñoz
Image : Guillermo Navarro
Sound : Miguel Rejas
Editing : Luis de la Madrid
Decors : Cesar Maccaron
Music : Javier Navarrete
Production : El Deseo, S.A., Tequila Gang, Anhelo Producciones
Distribution: Tamasa Distribution
Distribution: Tamasa Distribution
Far from the studios of Hollywood, Guillermo del Toro filmed his third feature in Spain, the film being produced by Pedro Almodovar. With El Espinazo del Diablo (The Devil's Backbone), the Mexican director gives us a fantasy tale with an orphanage inhabited by ghosts as a backdrop. The evil which gradually permeates this enclosed community symbolises the civil war and announces El laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) (2006) where the action takes place under the Francoist regime. "Even if I come from Guadalajara in Mexico, I felt the wave of Francoism. In 1930, when Franco mounted his coup d'état, the rest of Europe allowed him to do it because they knew he would ally himself to Hitler. Many brigade members escaped to Mexico. Spanish culture is still felt throughout the arts, and above all in films" (G. Del Toro).